Nov 2023 Mod notice:
There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
The GOP spent decades, helped by rightwing media like FOX News, cultivating their base. The Democratic Party by contrast tried becoming more egalitarian. As a result, the Democratic Party is winning the culture war at the cost of an electoral advantage. The Democratic Party arguably has the larger potential voter base, but it has to negotiate and woo its base into actually going to the polls.
I really hope other nations aren't stupid enough to fully buy into Xi Jinping's Villain with Good Publicity act.
edited 8th Nov '17 7:06:30 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedChina isn't a superpower. They can barely exist outside their borders and are sitting on one of the most unstable economies in the world right now.
Even locally they have difficulty exerting any sort of control, be it through soft power or military projection.
Oh really when?edited 8th Nov '17 7:09:45 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -HylarnI'm not saying a realignment like that would be at all a good idea, but I do know that to a lot of countries, China's looking increasingly good because the other options are Russia, who annexed part of a country and are screwing with elections all over the place, the US, which is being run by a blithering idiot and a party of hypocritical lunatics and the EU which is currently dealing with the enormous mess that is Brexit, as well as the gigantic issue that is the Catalan independence movement.
If the EU goes through Brexit okay and the Catalan thing doesn't explode, the EU is the most likely to take the top position if Trump successfully destroys the USA's foreign influence.
edited 8th Nov '17 7:12:52 PM by Zendervai
Not Three Laws compliant.I suspect that China's economy is even worse than it looks, and the main reason we don't know more details is because the CCP tries very hard to keep information from leaking.
Disgusted, but not surprisedCause hiding the rot did wonders for the Soviets....
Better hope that the EU invests in hard power in addition to soft influence. Someone needs to pick up the guns and defend liberal democracy, and if the US bows out....its down to Europe for the most part.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Not to mention that China's got a serious demographic crisis as a result of the One-Child policy.
It's getting older, and most of the children are boys. There are too-few girls, and most of the girls are being put in orphanages, and quite a few of them are going to other countries. On the bright side, the minorities have growing family sizes...
edited 8th Nov '17 7:15:56 PM by GamesandTropes
China's Politburo is a perfect illustration of the demographic issue in China. There is one woman in it. And that's an improvement.
Disgusted, but not surprisedAnd a lot of relatively well off/educated Chinese are emigrating/staying in the countries they went to school in. Sure, they aren't in trouble now, but if things get dicey, say hello to a brain drain.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.[[https://twitter.com/tomwatson/status/928435369267392512 "People are not happy with Democrats." - Senator Sanders, just now on CNN Dems In Disarray]]
Fuck, Bernie.
Full stop.
edited 8th Nov '17 7:21:08 PM by TacticalFox88
New Survey coming this weekend!Which is even worse considering China already suffered a severe loss of brain power thanks to Mao's Cultural Revolution. China lost a lot of intellectuals in that time. It's only now recovering from those years.
WTF Bernie?! Just...WTF?!
The Democratic Party just won major electoral victories, and he's shitting on it!
Is he just miffed that a more "progressive" candidate didn't win?
That's it. I'm done giving Bernie Sanders the benefit of the doubt.
At least he didn't say this before the elections, which at least makes him better than Warren.
edited 8th Nov '17 7:25:48 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedPerhaps we should get the whole quote here, rather than a single tweet that might be taken out of context somewhat.
Does anyone have clip of this or something?
Oh God! Natural light!Should be noted that after his preferred candidate in Virginia lost, he backed off...
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.But why? Why waste a perfectly good opportunity to shit on Bernie Sanders and prove how superior they all are to the brainless Bernie cult.
Hey if he can stop being an idiot at best and an actively hostile presence at worst then we'll stop criticizing him.
Oh really when?edited 8th Nov '17 7:45:06 PM by Fourthspartan56
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -HylarnLook, I can see the desire to want to make Democrats be better when it comes to things like sanctuary cities. Sometimes if you settle for too little you get nothing. But at the same time, throwing shit at more moderate Democrats increases voter apathy, which benefits the GOP.
I'm not sure why Sanders thinks that throwing shade at the Democrats is going to be a net positive for him. Sure it's nice to have that "outsider" label for political capital but at a certain point you have to accept you can do more in the party than outside it. It would be a lot easier for him to actually lay the groundwork for accomplishing his goals if he played ball.
It's not like he has to roll over but a more enthusiastic response would be better given what a major victory this is. It's starting to sound like he cares more about "winning" on his own terms as opposed to the country improving.
edited 8th Nov '17 7:59:52 PM by Draghinazzo
Nazi and former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka gor hired on at Fox News as a National Security advisor.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
As far as he's concerned, him winning is required for the country to improve.
And FOX News sinks to a new low...is what I'd like to say. But let's face it, they have always been this shitty.
edited 8th Nov '17 8:01:18 PM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedWhen will people wise up and realize that Fox News is not their friend?
I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting AgencyAs long as FOX News keeps giving them a narrative that supports their worldview, it's not going to happen.
Disgusted, but not surprisedThat CNN thing...yikes. I'm all for blocking the merger if it is truly anti-competitive, but if they are specifically singling out CNN without truly compelling justification, that makes me feel nervous.
Unrelated, but in that article about the PA Trump voters I found that one dude interesting, the one that said he watches CNN from time to time but generally finds it more "fake news"-y than Fox, which he said was "more often correct". I wonder if any studies have been done to show what standards people have for "correct" (I know the real answer is almost certainly "conforms to my worldview", but I think it'd be interesting to take a more detailed look)
edited 8th Nov '17 8:13:25 PM by LinkToTheFuture
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -Thomas EdisonIf you grow up in a Fox News environment it's tough to get out of it. The right wing media machine, while devoid of positive qualities, is nonetheless ruthlessly efficient.
Are you sure you meant implausible there? It means possible, but really unlikely.
Trump's understanding of the world is simplistic at best. He was raised on Cold War propaganda and internalized it...and apparently nothing else whatsoever. He thinks he can make the rest of the world fear the US, but what happens when one member of a group makes literally everyone else in the group scared of them? The rest of the group revolts. If Trump continues with the random threats, there's likely to be at least the first steps in a massive power realignment focusing around China, because China is the only one out of the superpowers that's actually been trying to gain goodwill in the past year.
edited 8th Nov '17 7:06:27 PM by Zendervai
Not Three Laws compliant.